Day of Saint Boniface

Press, 16 February 1980, Page 16

Day of Saint Boniface

From

KEN COATES

in London

A little known English saint will this year become a tourist attraction —l3OO years after his birth. Saint Boniface, bom in the small Devon town of Crgditon in 680, is better known in Europe, where he is patron saint of Germany, than in Eng'and. But this year, the citizens of Crediton.: which has a population' of 6000, are planning to put their ' town and their saint firmly‘on their map. ■The town’s bishop, the

Rt Rev. Philip Pasterfield, who happens to be Cana-dian-born; the vicar of the twelfth century Crediton parish church, the Rev. Bruce Duncan, and members of the Saint Boniface Society, have .spent months preparing a programme for visitors to the “680 to 1980 Saint Boniface of Crediton celebrations.”

June 5 has been designated Saint. Boniface Day, and so far the programme includes a slide show depicting the saint’s life (88 performances from May to October), the opening of

an exhibition, concerts and sporting events, a flower festival, and Saint Boniface exhibitions in the lib-

raries at Crediton and in nearby Exeter. and Plymouth. Local businessmen are getting in on the act, and there will even be Saint Boniface souvenirs on the

market, including roses, plates, silver spoons, and even a Saint Boniface wine. Saint Boniface was born Winfrid, son of a wealthy Saxon, in the Crediton area, 1300 years ago. He entered the Benedictine monastery in Exeter and became a monk. Fired with missionary zeal, he travelled widely all over Europe — Rome, Bavaria, Hesse, Friesia in the Netherlands,. and Fulda, Germany, are among the places he visited. It was at Fulda that he founded a monastery and

is buried. He is said to have converted thousands to Christianity. Bandits killed him when he was well into his seventies, during a trip through the Netherlands. He is remembered in Crediton by a statue in the park at Newcombes Meadow, which was unveiled by Princess Margaret in 1960. The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Boniface has a sculptural - relief of him made by Kenneth Carter in 19691 There are more than; 320 Saint Boniface churches around the world.